Posted by Frank Auer on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 @ 10:37 AM
This is a copy of a blog posting I wrote for Hubspot.com
In our busy, time-constrained world, it is harder and harder to generate a large amount of content in a short amount of time. One solution to this problem is what I like to call Storybook Marketing. The general idea is to use age-old archetypes and paradigms to do an end run around the requirement to process everything. One of the best known examples of using these storytelling methods is a little film you may have heard of -- Star Wars. George Lucas was greatly affected by the Joseph Campbell book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces. By using the "monomyth" idea presented in the book, Lucas was able to tell a story that people immediately engaged with and understood across many cultures because it was hard-wired into people's human experience. Imagine how much more powerful your business blog or tweets would be if they accessed people's core understandings of how the world works. But how might you do that?
Your Product as a Character
Think about your product or service as a character. Is your product the loveable rogue, such as Han Solo? Look again at your product or service's characteristics. Is it fun? Powerful? Efficient? Use those characteristics to discover who your "character" is. You must also understand where on its journey that character is. For example, if your service is new and groundbreaking, your character may be at the stage of "Crossing the First Threshold" where it "actually crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of [its] world and venturing into an unknown and dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known." Certainly sounds like launching a new product or service, doesn't it? Use these characters and narrative structure to determine how to position your story.
What or who is your product's nemesis?
Discover what your product or service's nemesis is. Apple does this extraordinarily well. It is clear that Microsoft is the nemesis to be defeated. This gives them the ability to use certain shorthand when making comparisons and engages consumers who will frequently root for the "hero." That desire is coded in our humanity! Your nemesis needs not be a specific company or product. For example, it can be argued Google's nemesis
is closed and disorganized information. You probably know your mission, but defining your "nemesis" gives power to your mission and makes it easier to communicate.
Clear Goals for Your Product
Clearly set what your product must accomplish in order to win. You must have a goal for your consumers to pull for. Imagine trying to cheer for someone who is racing if you don't know where the finish line is! This doesn't need to be your final goal, just as an Olympian may ultimately be targeting a gold medal, but still has to win many races along the way. What races does your product or service need to to win? Setting those goals help consumers feel as if they are part of something and cause them to engage in the chase for it. Is it becoming the number one product in its niche? Is it helping 100,000 customers? Set this goal and communicate it. This also gives you fodder for frequent blog or Twitter updates -- the perfect excuse to remind people of your mission.
Use Symbols to Fill the Gaps
Think about what age-old symbols and other characters you can use to quickly fill in the blanks for your customers. One of the oldest examples of this is the snake. Simply using the snake as a symbol brings to mind evil and sneakiness. Symbols such as this can quickly fill in the blanks for customers and help set the right tone. Imagine if you were selling a personal safety product. Simply place a photo of a snake at the top of your blog entry. Immediately this prepares your readers' minds as you write about sneaky threats to their personal safety or how danger can creep up without them being aware. Your blog entries become super powered with an emotional charge that only symbols and archetypes can create.
These four tips together can power your inbound marketing in new and exciting ways. These techniques will allow you to quickly communicate information to your customers, and emotionally charge it. Your product or service will cease to be simply a product or service, but rather take on a personality and character that can be cheered for and supported.
In a time-compressed world, people talk about that which they care about most. Given a generic product or your storybook-empowered product, you will hold their interest while your competition will fade from their mind.
Photo: Hawee
Posted by Frank Auer on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 @ 09:52 AM
So if you looked at my information you have a basic idea of what StoryBook Marketing is. However you may think that only companies of a certain size can do it. Fear not, I am going to give you an example that should make you realize almost anyone can do it.
Recently, we were in Mexico and, like many people, ended up looking at tourist stuff while at ancient Mayan temple sites. Naturally many of the vendors had almost, if not, identical wares. We were eyeing a fun "day of the dead" clay painted skull. We randomly selected one of the vendors who told us his father crafted each skull. I did not point out that the gentleman across the path has the exact same skull, as did many other vendors on the site. We bargained the gentleman down a few dollars. As we negotiated the last dollar he refused to budge anymore. He said he simply could not as, again, his father made all these by hand. We gave in and purchased the skull at a pretty good price.
So what were this man's challenges?:
* Language barrier
* Easy substitution from other vendors
* No "budget" for marketing
The amazing thing is he overcame all of these by using StoryBook Marketing. Using pre-conceived notions in our heads, namely that of a hardworking honest peasant in Mexico, he was able to tell an immediate story. Everyone who speaks to that man immediately gets a picture of his hard working father. In reality his "hard working father" is most likely a factory. However, we buy into the romance of the story regarding the "hard working father" trying to make a difference for his family.
While other vendors simply shouted about their prices and deals this vendor attempted to reach into peoples hearts using traditional narratives and images to short cut the process and remove the language barrier making this a great example of how efficient StoryBook Marketing can be.
It is important to note, in closing, that he did not completely lie. The factory that makes the skulls is most likely staffed by hardworking Mexican laborers trying to do the best for their family. This gentleman simply filled that roll with his father, the essential truth remains, we simply allow ourselves to idealize it.
Ask yourself: What stories can you craft about your employees that customers can easily romanticize?
Posted by Frank Auer on Mon, Feb 08, 2010 @ 03:32 PM
Look:
I am sure when looking at that you had some reaction. Quite possibly it was a brief moment of fear or scary feelings. Now imagine if rather than seeing the photo I had just written "there is a scary clown, with bright red hair, and twisted angry teeth". It might still be effective but would not generate the same visceral and instant response. If I truly took the time to describe the image it would take you maybe 30 seconds to a minute to read my description of the photo. Many of your customers are looking at your narrative marketing message the same way. You do not have a minute to reach them - you need an instant response. This photo is a perfect example because the image of the scary clown is ingrained in your culture, so the message is translated more quickly and the message is received. Now imagine you make use of age old story lines to pass your marketing message, like this photo your customers will instantly grasp your message and understand it, even if they don't know exactly why. Think about storybook marketing as creating the word equivalent of the photo above, not a description, but an equivalent. What other pictographic examples can you think of?
Until next time here is another photo that will instantly play to your emotions, notice how quickly you process the feelings and how it prepares you for the potential message to come.
Posted by Frank Auer on Fri, Feb 05, 2010 @ 02:50 PM
We are currently witnessing a huge blossoming of Narrative Marketing, that will only continue to grow. The following are the 5 best reasons why this is occurring and will help you figure out how to best take advantage of this in your own digital marketing strategy.
1) Digital technologies: They are greatly lowering the barrier to entry when using Narrative Marketing. Previously it was expensive and time consuming to communicate a narrative advertising or marketing message to your consumers. To shoot video took expensive equipment and specially trained crews. Producing print media again took expensive software and equipment. Audio programs were the same situation. Of course once you created all this content it had to be distributed, which added untold costs. With the web as a distribution method and prosumer equipment and software such as Apple's Garage Band and Final Cut you can easily and affordably create massive amounts of content that can be needed to drive your narrative marketing effort.
2) Audience Demand: Your consumers will no longer put up with boring, dry messaging. Your new messaging must be engaging to compete with the growing number of screens in everyone's lives. Narrative techniques engage consumers and create a strong desire to know the rest of the story, naturally the rest of the story involves your product, service or message.
3) Honesty: Narrative Marketing, if done properly, gets to the core "Spirit" of your enterprise. Say what you may about spirit or souls, but consumers can judge when a company or organization has neither. Narrative marketing allows your company to be transparent in showing their "soul", but does not require the level of transparency that would make many organizations uncomfortable. In many ways it is a perceived transparency that helps the consumer feel they "know" the organization.
These are just three short reasons why Narrative Marketing is the future of marketing. I hope you will give them due consideration while planning your next marketing strategy, as they will open a whole new world of options.